28 June 2006

i've always loved meg white. ever since i saw her and jack play the greek theatre in berkeley. my sister and i actually ran into jack in our hotel elevator and then later walked right past meg who was walking her dog on the sidewalk and smoking a cigarette. had i known right then and there that i would come to love meg white, i would've had a deep, engrossing conversation with her that would've led to an intense and magnetic friendship. alas, that didn't happen. but i got to see the white stripes perform and it was probably the best concert i've ever been to. after the concert i went to the merch stand where my sister got a bag and i got a sticker. i saw a set of buttons, one of which said "i love meg" on it and i contemplated buying it. but i didn't, and to this day, i regret it. i cannot find that button anywhere.

anyway, last night i went to see a band called "be your own pet" play at the troubadour. great band, great energy, fantastic lead singer. they're all around 18 years old, the lead singer is a girl who screams and dances and shakes her head/hair back and forth so hard that you worry for her health...the guitar player is a kid named jonas who i knew when he was like 2 years old. his brother was in my carpool and jonas would sometimes be in the backseat when his mom would pick us up from school. it's pretty crazy to see jonas rockin' out on stage now, diving into the crowd and signing autographs for teenage girls with cameras (below is a picture of the band, jonas is the kid on the far right).

ANYWAY, after the show, guess who was hanging upstairs in the VIP room? MEG freakin' WHITE. i slyly walked past her pretending to look for a friend. i think we made eye contact, but our combined shyness made for an uneventful moment. but i think we both knew in our heart of hearts that we would meet again, some day, somewhere.

26 June 2006

23 June 2006

i've been in a world cup daze as of late. up early to catch the first games and centering lunch around the afternoon games. who would've thought? anyway, i was recently turned on to a series of videos that nike put out called "ginga." they are a bunch of mini documentaries about soccer players in brazil. one is about a kid who has one leg and still plays better than most. one is about "robinho," who plays for the national team and is immensely skilled. one is about a guy named "falcao" who has amazing footwork and is considered the best "futsal" player in the world. what is "futsal"? you'll have to watch to find out. the videos are beautiful and fun to watch. one thing you learn from all of them is how passionate people are about futbol in brazil. it truly is their life.

below is a more detailed description of what the videos are about:

from Resfest.com: "Described as the undefinable, mystical quality of movment that sets Brazilian futbol players apart from the rest, ginga is central to the athletic and cultural ingredients of Brazilian national identity. Produced by Fernando Mereilles (City of God, The Constant Gardener) and directed by three up-and-coming young filmmakers, Ginga is a slick, dynamic documentary that explores Brazilian life through the country's favorite sport, looking at the lives of different futbol players from different social backgrounds and regions of the country. Their stories yield a thoughtful, detailed portrait of Brazil's fascinating and complicated culture."

the quality isn't great, but you can view them at: www.video.google.com. just type in "ginga soul" ...

21 June 2006

19 June 2006

do you want some garbage? how about garbage packaged in neat little lucite containers? is it art? apparently so. you can now own actual garbage from new york city -- courtesy of justin, a nyc resident who collects metro cards, cigarette boxes, matches, coffee cups, tickets, etc. you can even own the garbage from opening day at yankee stadium or from the republican national convention or even from new year's eve in times square. apparently justin has sold over 800 cubes so far. amazing.

i stumbled upon a type of photography called tilt shift lens photography. what is it exactly? i came across this brief definition on photonotes.org: "Tilt-shift lenses (can be used for shifting or perspective control)...The lenses can also tilt, which lets you move the optical axis away from the perpendicular of the film plane. Normally the optical axis of a lens is precisely perpendicular (90°) from the film surface, but tilt lenses let you alter this angle, which is useful for altering what parts of an image are within the depth of field and are thus in focus."

take from that what you may. all I know is that some of the images are amazing -- notice how these pictures look like miniature models:

12 June 2006

06 June 2006

this is so taguchi. he plays for the st. louis cardinals. not only is he the best player in baseball, he has the best name -- ever. when he does something amazing on the field (which is regularly), announcers exclaim, "that was sooo taguchi!" if we could all be so taguchi, we'd all be so much cooler.

01 June 2006

you have to take a look at this. a woman is selling her pad in brooklyn and has designed a website to showcase it. the website is original and beautiful and details everything about the place through pictures and words. the apartment is only 861 sqft, but it's modern and has pretty cool fixtures. the asking price is $699k which is an awful lot to pay for a place so small. but i guess that's the price you have to pay if you want to live in new york. although couldn't you get a similar place in manhattan for that price? or an estate in texas? or a penthouse in chicago? or...